"Eat your spinach" only works for culture when it comes to parents of young kids and teachers.
You have to meet the audience where it is. Or you create/find the audience you need to be sustainable.
yeah, broadly i acknowledge drawing the important distinction between what's artistically successful and what's commercially viable. i don't much care for the OT's construction of "who's fault is it" as that confers some sort of implied grievance, as in "this thing is totally friggin sweet, if only the public or artist didn't screw it up." and personally i just don't think people create or consume media in that sort of framework.
however (perhaps unpopular opinion time)- i actually do think there's a place for prescriptive or curated culture. i'm that guy that tends to shy away from algorithmic recommendations- not only because they're frequently poor, but also because they're devoid of context and/or meaning. i don't want more of what i like (based on analysis)- i want something i haven't seen or heard that someone else thinks i should see or hear. that can be a bud, a publication, or an A&R suit- i don't care as long as someone thinks it has value.
likewise- (and i know there's no going home again in a post-internet world)- i do miss 'eating my spinach' because every now and then, for a variety of factors, some wild shit rises to the top.
old man personal anecdote:
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